Good Night Dick

Or
Sock it to Him
(Props to Don, making a rare appearance in the winner’s circle)
The Fickle Finger of Fate touched Dick Martin, half of the comic genius behind the genre-busting sketch show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, as he succumbed to bippy failure at the age of 86. Martin played the fool to partner Dan Rowan’s sophisticate straight man in a nightclub act that earned them hosting duties on the 1968 series that set the standards for television irreverence. Combining non sequiturs, awful puns, double entendres, special guest stars ranging from Jack Benny to John Wayne to Richard Nixon and a leisurely disdain for everything, Laugh-In was unlike anything that had appeared on television, and won two Emmys and load of viewers. Irreverence quickly gave way to irrevelance, and the show flamed out after 5 years and an awful spin-off movie, The Maltese Bippy. The show’s lasting legacy is Saturday Night Live, created by Laugh-In writer Lorne Michaels, which employs a similar philosophy of unknown young talent, but lacked the good sense to end on top. After Laugh-In, Martin spent a year on the game show circuit, notably eschewing the convention of changing clothes between shows, which gave the illusion that shows weren’t churned out 5 at a time. Among his acting stints included recurring appearances as Lucille Ball’s neighbor Harry on her first comeback and Pete’s grandpa on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.

Three Pooligans consulted their Funk & Wagnalls and split the hit: Marlene’s And Now for the Rest of the Stiffs took 10th and Don’s The After Midnight Specials and Michelle’s Hello, You Must be Going tie at 25th, however briefly, as…